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I have been reading on several boards tonight that the new Soap Opera Weekly does not name which shows but says that in order to cut costs some shows are going to now cut out the little blips at the end of the show stating what will happen on the next show.

Many are fussing about this but even though this is a cost cutting thing I think it might help them some.

The cost thing is what some on soaps have been wondering. I guess they cut out the staff cost to make them - editing etc. With the way backstage personnel salaries have gone up over the years it can get into some bucks - depending how many staff members work on it.

I was thinking at the time I first read this about the openings. Soem also brought that up on boards too. To me the only opening on daytime right now that can't cost that much is Days - because it is paid for.

All the soap openings use to be simple, but some are very elaborate now. It would seem they could scale them back to what they used to be and cut more money that way.

But I do think this is a good thing. Those previews let people know who is going to be on and who isn't and they often don't tune in. Also just like recently with OLTL - both Marty and Tina showed up in the previews for the next day. How much more exciting would it have been for non-spoiler viewers to not have seen that and bam there they are the next day.

Very good move. They are useless anyway. Most times they spoil the end of shows, which is annoying. I wish spoilers in general would be more limited or more controlled. This will help improve the shows IMO. If this can also save money, it's all the better. This is the kind of shit you cut...needless BS. I swear some shows seem to put more effort into their previews then they do the actual episodes.

I like it.A lot of times they spoil too much for me.I wouldn't miss them,especially since I turn them off if the show ended with a good cliffhanger!

As far as openings go,in my opinion we don't need the fancy beauty shots or pictures. The ATWT opening was out of date not long after it first appeared and they didn't include every body in the cast.Just give me the earth turning in space with a remix of the original or the second theme for ATWT!

I like that idea. I have to say though that I used to LOVE the next time preview for Days. I know everyone hated all of the effects that they used to use, but I thought they were so neat. We'd go from the FREEZE FRAME of a character to the previews that were usually covered in flashes and light. Finally, as they got to the last and biggest preview, a bolt of light would fly across the screen. *sigh* I miss that.

I've never liked these since they started with them back in the '90s. The previews were necessary for primetime shows like DALLAS back in the day, but I don't like seeing previews for what I'm going to see 24 hours later, especially when the previews tell me everything about what's in the show and spoil half of it for me. What really ticks me off is when one of the spoilers is the very last scene of the next show.

Interesting. They're sort of irrelevant for me now that I'm online and know very well what's going to happen the next day, but before that, they were sometimes the most exciting part of the show - especially if the show ended with a cliffhanger. (And before that, the previews at the beginning served a similar purpose.) I think the whole art of keeping viewers hooked and on the edge of their seats on a day to day basis is pretty much lost. Maybe that's part of why they feel these aren't needed anymore. I can't imagine it will cut costs that much.

Lord, it's about time they did away with those. Geez, if your storylines aren't going to get people to tune in the next day, those previews tagged on at the end sure aren't. I've hated those things ever since they started them and thought they were stupid and counter productive. It's the same reason I hate detailed spoilers. Why the hell watch if you already know what's going to happen? The big draw of soaps is to be drawn in and want to tune in to find out! I also wish soaps would ditch the posed cast shot openings that have to be updated (at a cost) every other week (it seems). Give me a stong theme song and a beautiful opening visual with something that symbolizes the theme and/or feel of the show. You could shell out a nice chunk of change for it at the begining, but you'll never have to edit it or change it again when someone comes/goes and it's good for years without another thing done to it. IMO, *that* would be cost effective.

That is where Days saves money. Their opening is the same with no cast shots. Nothing. I never did like the cast shots for soaps. I prefer just a traditional opening. It's not like the opening is going to catch a young viewer's eye (which is what I think is the idea behind some of those ABC openings). They could care less. Plus, the shows never seem to update them frequently enough.

The next step is limiting spoilers. I know they can't do away with them but they should limit them and/or make them as vague as possible. Days has gotten better at that since Ed Scott came but it's still a bit too much. I remember the days where a SOD cover story told you a bit about the even or story going on and left almost half of it vague so you had no idea. I know it's different times now with the Internet and all but you can do it. Look at Passions and how many secrets it kept with story over they years. It's possible and I say stop with the sties like Prevuze and all those daily updates and stuff that tells you the characters who will be on that day. Let's go back to the old days of not knowing so people HAVE to tune in everyday. The Early Edition is already gone so let's do away with the rest. These sources is why people just pick and choose when they watch. Limit the spoilers, make them tune in. That way you have a better chance at locking people in more, especially Days because characters are now showing up at any point in the episode. It's lost past time this happens. It's one of the biggest things hurting soaps and while I know you have to have some spoilers to create interest, they should go back to the old ways because they were much more effective.

Good! They need to hunt down the episodes on YouTube and take them all down. More people will start watching the show. Or just air them on your site and make them available for everyone. I know that will cost money. They need to ease up with the spoilers. Those shits are the reason why people don't give a shit about the show.

Phoenix, regarding Canadian day ahead sites, that's never going to go away. But regarding spoilers, I'm not sure it's a question of vague/not vague, but rather how to construct the spoilers to give just enough of a clue that people want to tune in, but not enough information that they no longer have to tune in.

Days has been imo particularly awful at writing spoilers lately. My favorite example is from after the plane crash in February. The first spoiler to come out was "John tells Marlena he still doesn't remember her." Oooookay... we knew that already. Then, a week later, we saw "John tells Marlena the sex was great but he still doesn't remember her." It's like Spoiler Writing 101. Which do you think would bring in more viewers??

Lord, it's about time they did away with those. Geez, if your storylines aren't going to get people to tune in the next day, those previews tagged on at the end sure aren't. I've hated those things ever since they started them and thought they were stupid and counter productive.

I so agree.

I can't tell you how many times I'll be completely enjoying the cliffhanger ending on a soap opera, only to have the next-day preview suddenly pop on and completely interrupt the excitement I was left with. Sometimes, you just want the screen to fade to black and the credits to roll. It allows you to stew and think about the cliffhanger you just saw. Instead, they throw these previews in our faces, and it completely interrupts the wave of excitement we were riding at the end.

The stories themselves should be enough to make us tune in tomorrow. A desperate plea to tune in tomorrow always comes across as just that -- desperate.

I agree totally about the insipid spoiler/preview writing. Hell, they're not even real teasers, more like recaps of episodes/scenes that haven't even aired yet.

Instead of: "John tells Marlena the sex was great, but he still doesn't remember her"How about: "John and Marlena reflect on their earlier romantic encounter. Was it enough to make John remember?" *Always* allude to what the scene is about and then ask a question that watching the scene/episode will answer (because, 9 times out of 10, the question itself is one the audience is already asking and it shows that you're in tune with the audience).

Let's set up a fake scenerio with a fake soap opera. We'll call the soap "Tomorrow's Hope". Our characters are John, Mary, & Jane. From watching TH, we know that John & Mary are married, but having problems. Jane has been out to steal John away. When the newest spoilers come out for TH, we've already seen John & Mary have an arguement right before John leaves on a business trip with Jane. John & Jane share drinks in a hotel room and on the last end-of-show cliffhanger we saw, Jane pulled John into a kiss and he didn't pull away. Our spoilers are for 2 weeks from now.

"When John returns from his trip, Mary suspects John is keeping something from her. Will he tell her about kissing Jane or is he hiding something else? Meanwhile, Jane feels she's one step close to stealing John away. Will a clandestined conversation with John on Thursday confirm her feelings or give her another obstacle?"

The only thing we know for a fact is that #1 - John has come home to Mary from his trip and #2 - John & Jane meet in secret on Thursday. Other than that, we really have no idea what the hell's going to happen! Today, soaps would write their spoilers like this...

"Mary suspects John is hiding something from her and confronts him about his trip with Jane. A guilty John lies about sleeping with Jane and later tells Jane that they can no longer see one another."